autonomous birth: baby come quickly

it was friday,
another jumuah,
and regular homeschool day.
i’d been feeling contractions throughout the day,
but nothing i couldn’t do circle-time through.

i’d started researching how to naturally induce labor
so i wouldn’t have to make that 7:30 AM appointment
with a syringe filled with pitocin…oxytocin…whatever,
or find an excuse to miss it.

because He is alQaadir
(The Able)
i used the power of prayer;

during the day i stimulated
two acupressure points mentioned in the midwifery book
and here:
[ http://www.childbirthsolutions.com/articles/birth/acupressure/index.php ]

specifically a point between the thumb and pointer,

and the a point inside the leg just above the ankle;

i ate dates:
among numerous benefits for the pregnant, laboring or nursing woman,
they also contain oxytocin,
used to “facilitate” birth;
[ http://www.guidedways.com/articles/dateshealth.php ]

and used the hormonal benefits of sex.
[ http://www.ehow.com/how_4616662_over-due-date-not-induced.html ]

not in that particular order.

ishaq came home after work
and we talked a bit.
my contractions started getting stronger.
we decided to go over or plan
and put the supplies in order
just in case tonight would be the night.
afterward, he suggested i lay down and rest a bit.

i’d rest
and have a strong contraction,
rest
and have a strong contraction.

after a while of going in an out of a light sleep
i heard the athan for maghrib
and i went to the bathroom
to use the toilet and make wudhu.
i didn’t turn on the light,
but when i looked at the tissue after wiping,
i thought i saw something dark.
now, i believe it was the mucus plug or bloody show.

ishaq gave me some food i asked for
– lentils and bread.
i ate a bit,
but didn’t really have a taste for it or anything else.
i told him that i might have seen blood
when i wiped in the bathroom.
we agreed to call the ambulance after baby was born.

i got through two rakat of the maghrib prayer
before i gave up.
the contractions got stronger
and closer together.

in a dim bedroom,
with only the light from the hallway
softly streaming in,
i started breathing “yaAllaaaaaaah”,
walking back and forth
and in circles at the space at the foot of our bed,
and making dua
for me, baby, and whomever else came to mind.

i danced, moving my arms in wide circles
envisioning in my mind’s eye the opening of my cervix
like a beautiful pink-red corolla of a flower.

i swayed my hips in circles.

my back hurt
(understatement)
so i got on all fours
and moved my whole body in a U-shape.

ishaq would come in an out to check on me
and ask me if i needed anything.
at one point he did apply counter-pressure
to my back when i asked him,
but i felt that all i really needed was to be left alone
until i called him.
i could feel slightly inhibited from doing
the intuitive body movements and sounds
when i saw or felt him looking in on me.

at one point
i could not say “yaAllah”.
those contractions stepped up a serious notch.
there was no break between them.
and then i stopped in my tracks,
legs a little wider than my shoulders.
i felt my eyes open wide
along with the simultaneous urge to grunt and push.
i felt something between my legs.
“ishaq!”, i called.

i said something like:
something came out!

he bent to his knees, looked,
and remarked excitedly
that it was baby’s head
still in the amniotic sac.

“that’s OK,” i said reassuringly.
another short push and baby was in ishaq’s hands
– i don’t remember when the sac burst –
and he was whispering the athan and iqama in baby’s ears.

i remember that she cried,
and i was thankful,
because i knew she was breathing.

ishaq managed to help me into a sitting position
at the edge of the bed
so that i could hold baby
– umbilical cord still attached –
while he took care of me.

i gingerly moved to the head of the bed
so i could comfortably lean against the wall
and he proceeded to examine the status of the umbilical cord and placenta.
the amount of blood alarmed him a bit
and he thought that he should call for help.
when i heard the athan for ishaa,
i told him to wait.
i had a feeling that everything was alright.

after a while he said that he could see the placenta.
i pushed with little effort and the third stage of labor was over.
he cut the cord
– tying it with dental tape –
and later checked the placenta.
it seemed that it was all there.

i checked between baby’s legs
and found that the OB and her trusty sonogram
had indeed been correct:
we had another baby girl, alHamdullilah.

i started shivering so he turned on the heater.

i think rahmah was the first to come back and ask if the baby was here.
then she alerted her other sisters
and they all came running back to see baby.
sanaa made some sort of exclamation about the umbilical cord.
rahmah was immediately in love with the tiny-ness.
as ishaq later ushered the girls back out
– they’d been eating and watching a movie –
aya said that she wanted to see the “boo-boo”
which was actually the placenta!
it was as if the book, “where did i come from”
was made manifest.

ishaq made a few phone calls,
got the girl’s dressed,
while i got me and baby dressed.
a coworker friend came and picked up the girls
to take them to his house.
the ambulance and paramedics came and picked us up.
another coworker/friend who called the ambulance for us
and translated between the paramedics
put a chair in the elevator for me to sit on the ride down.

i’ve never ridden in an ambulance before,
but it occurred to me during that ride
that ambulances should be made like cadillacs.
if i’d had a break in a bone
i would’ve been in serious pain from all the bumps and jars in that ride.
instead of taking us to the dr. Oz’s hospital
we somehow ended up at a hospital for women and children.

after popping an IV in my arm
and a quick examination,
they wheeled me through what looked like
an empty airport terminal under construction,
then laid me down in a 2-bed room to rest.
my IV hung from a lop-sided pole at the head of the bed.
because they put the IV on while i had my jilbab on,
i couldn’t take off my jilbab
without pulling the fat IV bag through the narrow sleeve,
so it stayed on until the IV came off late the next day.

ishaq would not let baby out of his sight.
they wanted to keep her for a couple hours
for “observation”,
but ishaq wasn’t having it if he couldn’t be with her.
they wouldn’t let ishaq in the room
where they wanted to give baby-girl majeed a once over,
so he declined to hand her over.
the nurses who did get to have a good look at her
wondered out loud why our baby was beyaz or white.
i guess they’d never had the opportunity
to see how melanin affects babies of color over time.

later, the nurses brought a metal bassinet into the room
and ishaq, baby-girl and i spent the night.

the next day was spent getting woke up
from short naps by
nurses, cleaning personnel, caterers and various lost or curious passers-by
coming in and out of the room.
i longed to spray the door to my room
and every door hinge in the hospital with some WD-40.
one woman came in asked to see baby’s face
even though i was nursing,
and then wanted to hold her.
i provoked prolonged stares when i went down the hall to the WC.

the hospital OB arrived later that morning and examined me.
we waited for what seemed an eternity for the baby doctor to come
and give our baby girl a once over and final OK for us to leave the hospital.
in between time we talked,
gobbled down a very passable hospital lunch,
overheard a fight,
and scarfed down bottled water and ice cream novelties from a nearby snack store.
after we finally got the go-ahead from the the pediatric doctor,
we finished up the final paperwork
with help from yet another of ishaq’s translating coworker/friends
and they took me home.

ishaq picked up some prescriptions,
and finally the girls,
and we were reunited a bit later.
all five of us,
plus one more.